Rethinking Recovery: Don’t Fight The OLD; Build The NEW

Per Socrates: the secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. While he may not have been talking specifically about reverse logistics and liquidation, the sentiment still applies. Think about it: lack of innovation over the past few decades around how organizations approach disposing of their returned, excess and obsolete inventory is resulting in billions of dollars lost and can no longer be left to inefficient, reactive and outdated methods. The OLD way, like selling to a liquidator for a pre-negotiated price, always leaves money on the table; their job is to buy it from you at the lowest price possible so they can mark it up and sell it to smaller retailers.

Building the NEW

There are new technology-based methods for liquidating returned and excess inventory that bring efficiency to the process while providing control and increased recovery. These methods allow you to:

Ditch traditional, manual methods

Eliminate dependence on a small group of buyers

Apply technology

Sell directly to secondary market buyers

When done right this type of approach not only delivers the highest price possible, but it also automates the sales process and delivers a faster sales cycle.

A Growing Problem

Globally, returns and overstock account for $1.1 trillion each year; in the US alone returns and overstock represent 10-15% of the $3.2 trillion retail economy. These are HUGE and growing numbers. Reverse logistics must evolve right along with the rest of retail; this is particularly important for the last mile of the reverse supply chain: liquidation. An efficient remarketing strategy to maximize recovery and hit velocity goals for liquidation inventory is crucial for survival within today’s competitive retail landscape. Think about it like this: any increase in price for secondary-market bound merchandise goes straight to the bottom line.